This Amazing Bible Passage Reveals The Nature Of God AND The Depths Of His Love For Us

Dan Doyle

By Dan Doyle

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This passage is one of the most beautiful in all of scripture. It reveals the nature of God and the depths of his love for us. And this incarnational event occurred for one reason alone, to heal the rift that we had created between us and the One who created us out of love. I found the following quote from St. Basil, the 4th century monk and Bishop of Caesarea while reading yesterday. It is a beautiful meditation on this passage:

ʺAfter having offended our Benefactor by our indifference to his signs of goodwill, we have nevertheless not been forsaken by the Lord's goodness nor cut off from his love, but we have been rescued from death and restored to life by our Lord Jesus Christ. And the way in which we have been saved is even more worthy of wonder. 'Though he was in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave.'” (Philippians 2:6-7)

He carried our weakness and bore our sufferings, he was put to death for our sake that we might be saved by his wounds, he redeemed us from the curse by becoming accursed for us (Isaiah 53:4-5, Galatians 3:13). He endured the most degrading of deaths to lead us to life and glory. And it was not enough for him to restore to life those who lay in death. He clothed them again in the divine dignity and prepared for them in everlasting rest a happiness that exceeds all human imagining.ʺ (St. Basil)

Because of this love we are filled with unspeakable joy. How could we deserve such magnanimous love? But there it is! In Jesus. He who let go of everything—everything—holding back nothing to himself, because he loves us so dearly that he could do nothing less. And here too we find another great mystery. He has asked us now to do the same. We can trust that, if we say yes to him and take up the challenge, he will be our advocate and our grace. Amen.

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Dan Doyle is a husband, father, grandfather, Vietnam veteran, and retired professor of Humanities at Seattle University. He taught 13 years at the high school level and 22 years at the university level. He spends his time now babysitting his granddaughter. He is a poet and a blogger as well. Dan holds an AA degree in English Literature, a BA in Comparative Literature, and an MA in Theology, and writes regularly for The Veterans Site blog.